Well, it seems that Dan Bloom is a real person, and this--maybe--is a photo of him:

Ben...

Tis me. Danny Dan Daniel Bloom. Just don't call me Ishmael.

Thanks for posting this above, and sorry for the mis-spelled and typo-ridden emails. Some of them were Atomic Typos, ever heard of that term for proofreading? Look it up: atomic typo. I even have a blog devoted to it.

NOW to get serious. I was really really serious, and was talking about this book: "Angel the Fence" by Holocaust survivor Herman Rosenblat. Due to be published in USA in early February 2009, and also in Oz by HarperCollins Australia and in the UK by HarperCollins Thorsons Element.

The book is most likely a fraud, not a hoax per se, but a fraud. I really don't know the exact details, but I do believe someone is behind this old man, 80 now, manipulating him for reasons unknown. OPRAH has invited him on her show twice. There are emails all over the world about this man's love for his wife and how it all came to be. Google: "Herman Rosenblat" and you will see.

In a recent blog post, a noted Holocaust historian who believes the book is a fraud noted, just TODAY: "It is fairly certain that this is ahoax. Historians are working on it. The facts will emerge shortly, andfor those who care about truth, it will not be a nice situation."

The book is not yet published. But the hype has been building for 10 years! Pub date is Feb. 3, 2009. But the publishers MIGHT have to recalll the book before it even gets released. See my news article below.

The only thing, Ben, is that I am afraid this another BEAH book waiting to implode, once the media see what the historians looking into this faux memoir present their findings to the New York Times. Or to me! I am freelance journo, too, not a 4:30 am phone freak!

I found your blog because I was researching how the BEAH book was covered in the Australian press, and I thought Shelley Gare did a fantastic job reporting the story. So I was looking to you to give me some feedback, that's all, and you did, in your own sort of writerly way.

I'm going to be honest, Dan, the immediate problem with your story is that you don't know the exact details, and you simply believe that an eighty year old man has been manipulated. Old folk getting manipulated happens all the time, sadly, and they get ripped out of savings, medications, and sometimes crockery. Quite often they don't end up on Oprah, but I must admit, I haven't watched that show for a long time. I'm really a fan of fat Oprah, not thin, hang with movie stars and give away cars to upper middle class white people Oprah. A Holocaust survivor story about love sounds like the kind of thing her crowd would get off on, so you're probably right. Still, I think if you're going to go running round with this stuff, you might need some concrete details.

Slightly more pressing is, why give a shit? If some historian says it'll turn out to be a fake, and they'll do that soon enough, then let them do it. It's already appearing on Snopes. I'm sure there's more. It's hardly like you're leading the way in blowing the lid off something hidden and amazing with the media attention that seems given to them. I mean, five secs in google gave me their faces:

So, what's your personal stake in this?

I'm half tempted to call you out as a viral marketing tool, a way to seed interest in a book that's likely to bore the shit out of me, but maybe that's just me making this interesting.

"But I do like giving cracked dudes a bit of a voice, so if you leave details on what this literary fake is in the comments, then I'll post it here for everyone to see."

ABOVE DONE DEAL.

"Don't email me and ask to chat privately, cause it isn't going to happen, and at any rate, there's really nothing I can do for you outside using this blog post if it's true or not."

CAN WE CHAT OFFLINE NOW? JUST ONE WRITER WANTING TO CHAT WITH ANOTHER WRITER. BY THE WAY...I am 60, maybe that explains it! SMILE. 60 going on 19. Slightly cracked? No, deeply, madly, utterly cracked. Story of me life. Now why would ANYONE ever think I am SPAM? This happens to me all the time, Ben. I send polite emails to complete strangers and they think I am SPAM. What's up with that?

SMILE.

Your post gave me a good laff, and cheers, mate...

Danny on island Taiwan, same time zone as you Down Under...

if you really want to see how CRACKED I am, Ben, see my polar cities for Australia and NZ work here:

You then sent me a picture of a typewriter, the blurb and publisher weekly review of Black Sheep, a google alert about the book you're talking about, an article about author fakes, and also introduced yourself to my mate, John, over on his blog.

Which is why we won't be talking offline.

What I'm saying is there's a way to do things, and a way not to do things. You've crossed that line into the way you don't do things. When I log into my email and there's eight emails from you, that's too much. Probably communicating on my blog with you like this is a little too much validation for your bit of crazy, but I like to give people a bit of rope. Yours kind've ran out, though, so I'd appreciate if you didn't continue emailing me, left my friends alone, and have a good time while you're in Thailand.